u/MK7777MK

This will mostly be a rant at the beginning, so feel free to not read if you want.

Long story short, I got laid off from my job around two years ago. My manager told me that I hadn't done anything wrong and that my work was great, but they're letting me go because they wanna cut on the costs.

After getting laid off, I spent nearly two years applying for work, doing interviews, and getting constantly rejected. At one point, I was so desperate that I worked for a company for free for around two months as an intern, hoping it'd eventually turn into a job. It didn't. Instead, the owner decided to use Claude to continue the work after I was done.

So yeah, I'm quite burned out.

At this point, I've a pretty strong resentment toward AI and the people and companies aggressively pushing it. From my perspective, I'm watching the same technology that was supposed to "make developers more productive" contribute to making it harder for people like me to find work.

For context, I've a master's degree in computer science and over four years of professional experience in software development, mainly in web development. Yet here I am, two years later, still struggling to get back into the industry.

And before anyone says, "AI can't replace developers," I know plenty of non-technical people who are now building full-stack applications entirely through AI. For some people, that's a hard pill to swallow. You could argue that maybe some of these apps aren't always great, scalable, or production-ready, but the reality is that a lot of people and companies don't seem to care. They just need something that works well enough.

And honestly, it feels like you don't even need an experienced developer for many architectural decisions anymore. People can ask an AI what stack to use, how to structure their database, how to deploy the app, how to build the backend, and so on. Whether the results are always good is almost beside the point. The barrier to building something has dropped dramatically.

I know that's probably going to piss some people off, but that's how it looks from where I'm standing.

It honestly feels like life is rewarding people who put in the least amount of effort, as long as they have enough money to burn on AI subscriptions and tools, while people who spent years studying, working, gaining experience, and trying to become good at their profession are being told to just "adapt" or get left behind.

I've basically accepted that my original career-path and ambitions are over, so I've started looking at other options. Recently, I got into Unreal Engine and indie game development. Ironically, that's also getting flooded with AI, so there doesn't really seem to be an escape from it.

Still, game development has brought back some of the passion I used to have for programming before all of this. I genuinely enjoy learning it, and I'm currently working toward making my first indie game. I'm hoping that maybe I can eventually make an income from it.

Yes, I know AI could supposedly help me make more things faster. I just don't want to use it. I don't want to support the companies or ecosystem that, from my perspective, helped make my own situation worse.

And if game development doesn't work out, I'm seriously considering switching to nursing because I'm running out of time. The truth is, I'm not particularly interested in nursing, and it's not a career I'm passionate about. But at least it seems like a field where I might have a better chance of actually being employed and making a living. Or at least, I hope so.

So I'm genuinely curious about other people who have been laid off, quit their jobs, or got pushed out of their industry:

What are you doing now to make a living?

Did you switch careers completely? Are you still working as a developer? If you are, how did you survive the layoffs and keep finding work?

And for the people who are still successfully landing jobs in this market, what are you doing differently? Is it networking, referrals, freelancing, applying to hundreds of jobs, moving countries, specializing in something specific, or just pure luck?

Before getting into game development, I worked as a software developer for over 4 years and also completed a master's degree in computer science. Because of that, I didn't find the basics of Unreal Engine too difficult to understand. Over the past few weeks, I've been learning Blueprints, C++, FAB, and other core UE5 features, and I feel like I've been making a steady progress.

That said, I constantly feel like I know almost nothing. Which, to be fair, is probably true. There's still so much I haven't touched yet, and I've essentially no real game development experience.

My goal is to release my first indie horror game on Steam within the next year. I already have most of the assets I need, so now it's mainly a matter of building the gameplay, creating a good horror atmosphere, and putting everything together. But every now and then I start doubting whether I can actually pull it off. I keep thinking the game won't be good enough, or that I'm underestimating how much work is still ahead.

Another thing I struggle with is feeling like I'm running out of time. There are so many Unreal Engine tutorials, systems, plugins, and resources online that it feels impossible to learn everything. I constantly worry that I'm missing something important or that I should be learning a different topic instead of actually building my game.

For those of you who have already released a game (or are working on your first one), did you go through something similar? How did you deal with imposter syndrome, and what helped you stay motivated instead of getting stuck in self-doubt? Did you eventually reach a point where you just accepted that you'd learn things as you built your game?

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to Unreal Engine 5 and have been trying to figure out the best way to approach learning it.

From what I've seen so far, Unreal Engine 6 will introduce Verse as the primary scripting language, with Blueprints initially remaining available in early access for compatibility before eventually being phased out. That got me wondering whether it's still worth investing a lot of time into learning Blueprints, or if I'd be better off focusing primarily on C++.

My goal is to become an indie game developer using Unreal, so I'm trying to build a solid foundation from the start.

My thinking is that if I build a strong understanding of how Unreal works through C++, transitioning to Verse later should be much easier than relying heavily on Blueprints.

What do you all think? Is it still worth learning Blueprints as a beginner, or would you recommend focusing on C++ from the start, or maybe still do both? I'm looking for advice from people with experience because I want to learn Unreal the right way and avoid developing habits that I'll just have to unlearn later.

I'd especially appreciate detailed explanations rather than just "learn Blueprints" or "learn C++." I'm interested in understanding the reasoning behind your recommendations, especially from developers who've worked with Unreal for several years.
Thank you in advance.